Will the Nationals trade Juan Soto? A deal elsewhere could help the Phillies’ playoff push

LOS ANGELES — It hangs over this All-Star Game like palm trees and the Hollywood sign. And if you look at baseball through rose-colored Phillies glasses, it may even have a bearing on whether the National League’s longest active playoff drought reaches an 11th consecutive year.

Will the Washington Nationals trade Juan Soto?

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A few weeks ago, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said unequivocally in a radio interview that the team was “not trading Juan Soto.” But news leaked over the weekend that the 23-year-old turned down the Nationals’ offer of a 15-year, $440 million contract extension.

Now, two weeks before the trade deadline, the player considered by many to be the best hitter in baseball may be available, which is shaking the All-Star Game like a California earthquake.

“It feels really uncomfortable,” Soto said Monday before competing in the Home Run Derby. “You don’t know what to trust. But at the end of the day, it’s out of my hands what decision they make.”

The Phillies have 11 games remaining against the Nationals, all after the Aug. 2 trade deadline. They are 6-2 against Washington, which has the worst record in baseball (31-63). But things will look only more bleak in the nation’s capital if Soto is playing elsewhere.

“I mean, wow, it’s a special talent,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said of Soto. “That’s the best way to put it. He’s the most mature 23-year-old you’ll ever see. What he does at the plate is so special. You don’t really see if that much in this game. The plate discipline that he has, the power tool, it’s really cool to see. You’re just out there in the field hoping he hits it at someone, or on the ground.”

The magnitude of a Soto trade is almost too much to process, which is why it may not come together in the next 15 days. But if the Nationals traded him during the season, the acquiring team could have him for three postseason runs even without locking him up to an extension. Soto isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2024 season.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins relive 2018 Home Run Derby

One thing was clear: Soto seemed perturbed that details of his extension talks with the Nationals leaked out. Agent Scott Boras described the possibility of an extension as a “ghost contract” because the Nationals are up for sale.

“I could only say historically, anyone who trades [a player like] Juan Soto usually has to say to themselves, ‘How do I find a replacement for Juan Soto?’ ” Boras said. “And if that replacement comes in four pods rather than one, and those pods are at different levels of the game, I wouldn’t want to be the one that’s the advocate that has to explain that.”

For most of their three seasons as teammates with the Los Angeles Dodgers, outfielders Joc Pederson and Carl Crawford lockered next to each other at home. And whenever Crawford was in the weight room, Pederson would hang out with his son, Justin, 10 and 11 years old.

Sunday night, the Phillies picked Justin Crawford, now an 18-year-old center fielder, in the first round of the MLB draft.

“He was kind of quiet and shy,” Pederson recalled. “He’d just be chillin’. It’s crazy. Little kid, and now, I just saw him and he’s towering over me. I’m like, ‘God [darn].’ He didn’t get his height from CC because CC’s not that tall.”

Pederson has stayed in touch with Justin Crawford over the last few years and seen highlights of his games at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.

“CC’s so athletic, and you just see the same swing and speed in Justin,” said Pederson, who will start in left field for the NL in the All-Star Game. “It’s going to be fun to watch him grow into a great player.”

Clayton Kershaw will become the 13th pitcher to start an All-Star Game in his home ballpark.

“It’s hard because obviously [Miami’s] Sandy Alcantara, [the Dodgers’] Tony Gonsolin, [Atlanta’s] Max Fried, all these guys have better numbers than I do and they should be starting this game and I get that,” said Kershaw, the Dodgers’ three-time Cy Young Award winner. “But I’m just so excited I get to do it here at Dodger Stadium. It just means a lot.”

» READ MORE: Phillies 2022 MLB draft tracker: Meet every pick

Kershaw has a 2.13 ERA in 12 starts. Alcantara (1.76), Gonsolin (2.02), and Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes (2.14) probably had the best cases to start. Kershaw also has thrown only 71⅔ innings, fewer than Phillies aces Zack Wheeler (99⅔) and Aaron Nola (126⅔), neither of whom made the All-Star team despite ERAs of 2.89 and 3.13, respectively.

Schwarber on his first All-Star Game memory: “Krukie [John Kruk] getting the ball thrown behind him against Randy [Johnson in 1993]. That’s not fun.” ... Kansas City Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi, a potential trade target for the Phillies and other teams, is unvaccinated, citing a “personal decision.” Would he change his mind if he got traded to a team that asked him to get vaccinated in order to play late-season or postseason games in Toronto? “I’m not going to answer those [questions],” he said. ... AL manager Dusty Baker said he considered starting Shohei Ohtani, “but the information that we received from Ohtani’s camp was that he probably shouldn’t or wouldn’t start.” Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Shane McClanahan will start instead. “Tell you the truth,” Baker said, “I’ve never seen him pitch.”

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